I like to get weird with you. Paranormal, Bible stories, super heroes, aliens; I like weird stuff. And so do you. So here is another weird-bomb for you:
Can our minds be uploaded?
Some of you don't know what I'm talking about. Some of you do. Here is the idea: When our bodies get old or sick, we will be able to copy our minds and upload them to machines. Not necessarily humanoid machines, like androids, but any kind of machine. This raises a lot of questions, of course. Will the copy be "real"? And what happens to the original? For some answers, turn to some excellent novels by Robert J. Sawyer:
I like Red Plane Blues better. It's a mystery set on Mars in the future, while Mindscan is set on Earth and the Moon. A man's copy takes over his life while he goes to live out his remaining years on the Moon. Things don't go well. . .
This topic is one of transhumanist's favorites. They see it as the future of mankind. That and mega-scale engineering and virtual reality. Check it out here. Fascinating stuff. No, really. Go read it.
Ray Kurzweil, author of The Singularity, has been talking about this for years. He sees man and machine merging around 2045. The man is brilliant. He works for Google now as their director of engineering. I'm convinced he is a machine, seeing as how he talks about this merging so much.
But let's get philosophical. Let us pretend we can scan, copy, and transfer a mind to a "container", like an android. What is it? New life? Or a continuation of the same person? Will that person live on, or is that copy just a vast collection of information, basically artificial intelligence like The Vision?
Personally, I think the copy isn't the real person. The soul and consciousness are tied to the body, to flesh and blood, and when that is gone, so is the spirit. A spirit cannot inhabit a machine. The transferred mind isn't a transfer of the real individual, just a file that can be uploaded. A recording, if you will.
The mind is usually thought of as being separate from the brain even though they are connected. The mind belongs to the spirit, and when the body ceases to function, the mind goes with the spirit to its destination.
Any way look at it, strange times are ahead. Kurzweil predicts body part replacement by 2100. Not a bad thing if you lost your arm. Computers being integrated with our brains are also being talked about, and I don't mean ear implants. But mind uploads? Why do it if it isn't really you?
Ego?
I realize these scientists are smarter than I am. But some of them don't believe in God or an afterlife. To them, we are information on a fleshy substrate that given a few more decades, can outlive are own meat-tents and live forever. Maybe they enjoy the idea of Utopia. Who doesn't? Me, I just don't think consciousness can be transferred.
But maybe you think differently. Maybe you think it can be done. Maybe you are dying and think you would do this if the opportunity ever arose. To you, any life is better than un-life.
Would you do it?
Can our minds be uploaded?
Some of you don't know what I'm talking about. Some of you do. Here is the idea: When our bodies get old or sick, we will be able to copy our minds and upload them to machines. Not necessarily humanoid machines, like androids, but any kind of machine. This raises a lot of questions, of course. Will the copy be "real"? And what happens to the original? For some answers, turn to some excellent novels by Robert J. Sawyer:
This topic is one of transhumanist's favorites. They see it as the future of mankind. That and mega-scale engineering and virtual reality. Check it out here. Fascinating stuff. No, really. Go read it.
Ray Kurzweil, author of The Singularity, has been talking about this for years. He sees man and machine merging around 2045. The man is brilliant. He works for Google now as their director of engineering. I'm convinced he is a machine, seeing as how he talks about this merging so much.
But let's get philosophical. Let us pretend we can scan, copy, and transfer a mind to a "container", like an android. What is it? New life? Or a continuation of the same person? Will that person live on, or is that copy just a vast collection of information, basically artificial intelligence like The Vision?
Personally, I think the copy isn't the real person. The soul and consciousness are tied to the body, to flesh and blood, and when that is gone, so is the spirit. A spirit cannot inhabit a machine. The transferred mind isn't a transfer of the real individual, just a file that can be uploaded. A recording, if you will.
The mind is usually thought of as being separate from the brain even though they are connected. The mind belongs to the spirit, and when the body ceases to function, the mind goes with the spirit to its destination.
Any way look at it, strange times are ahead. Kurzweil predicts body part replacement by 2100. Not a bad thing if you lost your arm. Computers being integrated with our brains are also being talked about, and I don't mean ear implants. But mind uploads? Why do it if it isn't really you?
Ego?
I realize these scientists are smarter than I am. But some of them don't believe in God or an afterlife. To them, we are information on a fleshy substrate that given a few more decades, can outlive are own meat-tents and live forever. Maybe they enjoy the idea of Utopia. Who doesn't? Me, I just don't think consciousness can be transferred.
But maybe you think differently. Maybe you think it can be done. Maybe you are dying and think you would do this if the opportunity ever arose. To you, any life is better than un-life.
Would you do it?
Ray Kurzweil believes death and disease will be a thing of the past as we lean to reprogram our cells. He sees no down side to man and computer becoming one. If Ray is correct ( his track record is excellent) the Mark of the beast may be much more then we every could have imagined it would be.
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